There's no question that Grand Theft Auto is one of the most revered franchises in modern games history. Rockstar's premiere property has the power to make even the most anticipated firstparty titles squirm on their release schedule. And after many months of speculation, last month's E3 finally spilled the details on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

But it wasn't at the showfloor. It wasn't even behind closed doors. Aside from the recently released screenshot staged in front of a fictional rendition of the Los Angeles Convention Center, it wasn't actually at the show at all. But it was in the July edition of Game Informer magazine, which secured probably the exclusive of the year with a ten page blowout on one of the year's hottest titles.

The exclusive feature was - and still is - pretty much the only source for information of any substance on the game, aside from some basic story details. So with all due credit to the magazine's earth-shattering deal with Rockstar, and without pinching their multitude of screenshots (you'll have to buy the magazine for that, won't you?) we present a shameless mix of details and conversation with Dan Houser, Creative Vice President at Rockstar North.

The gist is that you play a character called Carl Johnson (not to be confused with our own super staff writer) in the early 1990s, in a fictional place known as San Andreas - but the big thing is that San Andreas isn't merely a city, it's an entire state, California, that comprises fictional renditions of three key cities and all the countryside found in between.

The three cities are Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturra (Las Vegas) - each the same size as Vice City, bringing the estimated size of the entire game to around five times as big as any previous GTA title.

We're starting to get an idea of just how impressive San Andreas is likely to be, and we're loving it already. Stay tuned to Kikizo for a whole lot more, starting with a fresh wave of screenshots shortly.